Colorado Schools Win Major Battle In Fight To Protect Girls’ Sports

For some states, getting men out of women’s sports has more hurdles to clear than a track meet.

Take Colorado, which allows transgender-identifying boys to compete in girls’ sports in the name of protecting people’s “sexual identity.”

But that could soon change.

Colorado School District 49, located just outside of Colorado Springs, is leading a coalition of seven other districts that are challenging the law. The districts filed suit in May against the Colorado Civil Rights Division, the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, the Colorado Attorney General, and the Colorado High School Activities Association.

Last week, the Colorado High School Activities Association settled with the plaintiffs, a major victory for girls’ sports.

District 49 felt a lawsuit was necessary after it adopted rules last year requiring all school sports teams to be divided by biological sex. District 49 Superintendent Peter Hilts, said he made clear rules on biology for his school district after he noticed more incidents of men trying to compete as women around the country. District 49 filed their lawsuit May 9, 2025, to protect the district from any penalties brought on by Colorado’s sports governing body.

“I would never want my daughters to compete against a boy; that would be unfair,” Hilts told The Daily Wire.

The settlement with the association takes the Colorado High School Activities Association out of the lawsuit ongoing in Colorado federal court, and gives the eight districts protection from the association.

The association’s bylaws state that “member schools shall ensure that all students have equal access and opportunities to participate in activities and athletics without unlawful discrimination based on disability, race, creed, color, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, age, national origin, or ancestry.”

“We didn’t want a state agency to sanction our coaches or our student-athletes for advocating privacy, fairness, and dignity.”

Hilts says the settlement is a win for common sense.

“Before the settlement, they would have to self-censor, or worry about what would happen if they spoke out about men competing in women’s sports,” Hilts said. “The association could have taken action against coaches. They could have said coaches and athletes were being unsportsmanlike. They could have banned teams from postseason play, and they could have disqualified athletes from championships.”

The Colorado High School Activities Association told The Daily Wire it has “has never penalized a school or district for its policies on this issue, nor has it dictated what those policies should be.”

“At no point before filing this lawsuit did the plaintiffs engage in any dialogue with CHSAA,” a spokesman told The Daily Wire. “No outreach was made to inquire about our policies, our procedures, or the steps we had already taken to support schools navigating these issues.”

“This litigation consumed time and resources without producing any change to how CHSAA operates,” the spokesman continued, adding that “The settlement alters nothing about our policies, our practices, or our authority.”

The lead attorney representing School District 49, Michael Francisco, told The Daily Wire he hopes this settlement will encourage other districts to adopt policies that protect the integrity of sport.

“To our mind, CHSAA’s decision to settle leaves it to Colorado districts as to whether they want to adopt a policy governing biological sex in sports like the plaintiff districts,” Francisco said.

Hilts hopes a victory in federal court will result in President Trump’s executive order keeping men out of women’s sports being reflected in Colorado’s laws.

“We observed that under the Trump administration, the interpretation of Title IX created a contrast between state and federal law,” he said. “Colorado law gives precedence to gender identity, but Title IX was designed to give priority to biological sex. We think the state has been overly accommodating of the minority of individuals who want to compete outside their biological sex instead of protecting the thousands of other athletes.”

“We want the state to protect opportunities for all student-athletes,” he added. “Stop threatening and expecting school districts to defy common sense.”

Hilts said he is confident in the districts’ case against the state to make Colorado a place where every athlete has a fair opportunity to compete.

“We would celebrate a ruling that the federal interpretation of Title IX is the correct interpretation. Common sense is girls should compete against girls and boys should compete against boys,” Hilts said.

The plaintiffs were back in federal court Monday to argue against the defendants’ motion to dismiss the case.  A decision on that motion is now pending.